Who's that Knocking On My Front Door?

I? Have been a busy monkey.

I just wish I could say it was at a paying job.

BUT! They are all opportunities. Opportunities are knocking left right and center lately, I just have to encourage them to come on in. Here's some of what's been going on:

• First, last weekend I went to the American Library Association convention and, just by chatting with people, became an "official" blogger for Penguin's young adult imprint. That means they are going to send me books — before they come out — for me to review. For free. WOO! I also picked up about 50 free advance reading copies of other books to review, so I'm going to be a busy little blogger.
  
• Because of all that, I redesigned The Spiral Notebook so that it looks a little more professional and hipper. Cool, right?
  
• I also applied to be an "examiner" on Examiner.com, which is like a local blogger, and I got the gig! I'm now the Eco-Friendly Living Examiner for the Denver area, which means I blog about eco-friendly living (duh) in the Denver area (double duh) and — wait for it — they pay me money based on how well my articles do (how many people visit them, etc.). No idea yet if this will pay off, but we'll see.
  
• Finally, I got my first ever real live freelancing gig from a former boss. I'm writing about jewelry designers in Colorado. Right up my alley, right? :D Doesn't pay a ton, but if it were to be the first of many, that would be OK by me.
  
• Also, I'm trying to be really diligent about working on my book. I've got all this time off, I need to be putting it to good use, right? The other exciting opportunity that came out of the ALA conference last weekend is that I might have found a new critique group. Which would be awesome, because I always work better on a deadline!

So that's what's been going on. Nothing terribly promising yet on the permanent job front, but I'm applying all over the place. Guess I'll just keep using my down time to explore other opportunities while I can!

Deep in my heart, I do believe that we shall overcome someday.

Looking for the Open Window...

As some of you may have already heard, I was laid off from my job of just over two years on Monday. The company cut eight positions from the production team, including editors, designers, web monkeys and others. My boss made a point of telling me more than once that it was purely a financial decision and not a reflection on my performance, but frankly, that's small comfort when they've also just told you your position has been eliminated.

On the up side, I'm actually doing fairly well, all things considered. Monday was hard, and I took the day to be sad and upset about it. But since then, I have just gotten my rear in gear and got to work at the job of looking for a job. I've already had one phone interview, and I'm in the process of connecting with a second.

This isn't a good time personally or economically to be out of a job. It's really going to put a major damper on our plans to buy a house before our lease is up in June. But I'm trying to remember something Gini Moore told me almost 15 years ago — that whenever God closes a door, he opens a window.

Y'all tell me if you see an open window anywhere, OK?

Sunday from Scratch

I made an apple coffee cake today! I had some apples that were just a little too soft to be eaten by themselves, so I looked up "apple cake" in my trusty Joy of Cooking and found a recipe for a sour cream (or yogurt) coffee cake with apples on top, so that is what I made!

It wasn't at all difficult. It astonishes me sometimes how much I take for granted; like many, I automatically assume that making a cake from scratch will be so much more difficult than making one from a mix when, aside from a little measuring, it really isn't that much more involved.

We also watched Sabrina today, the old version, and I remembered why I like it so much. But I also lamented that I will never be as elegant or graceful as Audrey. Ah well. C'est la vie.

And now I've got La Vie En Rose stuck in my head from the film. So, all in all, a nice Sunday.